Critics lamenting the demise of the Children’s Service Partnership have been told not to rewrite history.

The warning came from Health Minister David Ashford after former children’s champion Daphne Caine raised the issue in Tynwald this week.

He said the partnership, which was disbanded in December, had not been effective.

Its role had been to ensure connection between the different government services for children, provided through health, social care, education and the Department of Home Affairs.

The partnership’s functions were taken on by leading civil servants working for the Council of Ministers’ social policy and children’s subcommittee. Several ministers pointed out the recommendation to do this did not come from the government itself, but from the former chairman of the safeguarding board Paul Burnett, and was agreed by the partnership itself.

Mrs Caine (Garff) argued that the partnership brought together people across departments and ’was better able to identify gaps in provision’.

She warned that disbanding it risked allowing ’people to go back to their own silos instead of breaking down those silos of government’.

Mr Ashford said: ’There seems to be a slight rewriting of history.

’It seems to be being suggested that the partnership was this agile organisation that was providing this support.

’Certainly the evidence and the investigations by the independent chair of safeguarding that led to this reform suggested it was not.’

He added: ’What was happening was work was getting duplicated and there was actually more chance of things falling through the gaps.

’That was one of the reasons the recommendation came forward for the partnership to end and everything to be combined up with the lead officer group.’

Mrs Caine had asked whether there had been any detrimental effect on the provision of services for children, but Chief Minister Howard Quayle said it had not.

Other organisations still had the opportunity to engage with the replacement group, ministers said.

Mr Quayle added: ’The CSP had a cross-government function when the children’s strategy was being developed some four to five years ago, but it lacked a clear or significant role once the strategy was launched.’

He pointed out Mrs Caine was part of the discussion ahead of the changes.

Department of Education member Ann Corlett (Douglas Central) commented: ’The Children’s Services Partnership had 17 members, mostly directors and officers, and to have all those people in one place at one time is an expensive use of their time if there is no clear direction.’